Yoga Stretching Tips

Series Summary

Yoga poses have become increasingly popular as a form of exercise and meditation. The focus of yoga is a holistic one, employing a broad range of practices which focus on a new way of living, thinking and being in the world. Aimed to unite the mind, the body, and the spirit, the health benefits of yoga are also great and varied. From relieving stress to strengthening and toning muscle, integrating yoga positions and exercises into your daily routine can be beneficial on many levels.

In this free video series our expert yoga instructor will teach you how to warm up for yoga exercises. A proper warm up is essential for safe and effective yoga poses. Learn how to stretch out and warm up your neck muscles, shoulder muscles and core muscles. You will get tips on doing the eagle arms pose, prone cobbler's pose, and the downward dog yoga pose. You will also get tips on doing core twisting warm up movements, and using accessories like a yoga block or yoga strap. If you are interested in yoga poses and exercises, learn how to warm up first with the tips from our expert on yoga.

Video Transcript

"To prepare for your yoga practice or your assonance which are the postures you need to warm up the body, this could be warming up the neck, the shoulders, the ribs, the hips, the legs, ankles, wrists, anything you need to use throughout your yoga practice it is important to stretch and warm up. An important thing to remember about stretching is to make sure that you don't over stretch any muscle group, this way you don't injure yourself. If you're stretching in the joint, which will be ligaments or tendons, you will feel discomfort in the joint. An important thing to know about that is ligaments and tendons don't stretch they tend to over stretch and they don't go back to normal size. Muscles are designed to stretch, contract, release and they are designed to be stretched. Another important thing about stretching is if your muscles are shaking or you feel any major pain or discomfort that's your body's way of saying to back off. And as long as you remember these two important guidelines stretching in preparing for your yoga practice will be comfortable."